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Fear the Reaper – TV Cancellations

Last night was a bloodbath when it comes to TV shows being canceled; when the dust had settled, 12 shows in total were sent to the TV graveyard. ABC in particular was ruthless, canceling six series. While I didn’t watch most of these shows, and Lord knows that I’ve got more than enough TV on my plate, I was still bummed out by some of the series that will not live to see another season. These hit me the hardest:

The Grinder

I cannot believe that I am now being denied my weekly dose of Fred Savage. It was so nice having him back on my TV again and now he’s been cruelly taken away. If there is a person out there better at playing the exasperated straight man, I haven’t seen them. The Grinder actually boasted a murderer’s row of talent – Rob Lowe, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, William Devane, Natalie Morales, Steve Little – and though it took it a little while to find itself this season, when it was firing on all cylinders it was one of the funniest shows on TV. The episodes in particular that feature Rob Lowe squaring off against Timothy Olyphant were so smart, meta, and silly.

It wasn’t a perfect show, but I really wanted to see what they could do with a second season once they figured these characters and the premise out. This one hurts. #thegrinderrests

Agent Carter

I cannot for the life of me figure out how Agent Carter was unable to find an audience and yet Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. did. Of the two Marvel-based series on ABC, Agent Carter was vastly superior (sorry Agent Coulson). It was well-written, had fantastic characters and had a tremendous cast. Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter and James D’Arcy’s Edwin Jarvis were the living definition of #squadgoals. I will miss their friendship and rapport. And, not for nothing, it was refreshing to see a show with such a strong and self-assured female lead. I was hoping what happened to Peggy in Captain America: Civil War wasn’t foreshadowing for the what would happen to the series; now, I’ve had to say goodbye to the character twice in one week.

Galavant

This one wasn’t surprising, but that doesn’t necessarily soften the blow. Galavant was always running on borrowed time; frankly it was a miracle that this show got a second season. I don’t think ABC ever quite knew what to do with this series, since they burned off episodes pretty quickly both seasons. I wrote about how much I enjoyed this series, despite the fact that on paper this didn’t seem like a show that was for me. I guess not enough people were willing to give it a try, which is a disappointment because Galavant was a whole lot of fun. If you like musicals (or Monty Python) and you weren’t watching Galavant, you really missed out. Thankfully, it sounds like Galavant isn’t completely dead and may resurface as a stage show. I’m hoping that happens.

Nashville, Castle, Grandfathered, The Muppets, The Family, CSI: Cyber, Containment, Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life and Bordertown also met their end last night. Of those, I only regularly watched The Muppets, but that was more out of sense of obligation more than anything else. I don’t know how you manage to screw up a series about beloved characters, but they somehow managed to do it. Let this be a word of caution in the future – don’t break up Kermit and Miss Piggy. I had given up on Grandfathered, despite my affinity for Paget Brewster, once I realized that it was basically going to be the same episode over and over again. Castle was somewhat surprising as they had just negotiated deals with the members of the cast that would be returning. Perhaps the fan outcry over Stana Katic leaving the show made the network nervous. The cancellation of CSI: Cyber is something of the end of an era as that means the end (for now) of the CSI franchise. Supergirl avoided cancellation, but is jumping networks from CBS to CW. That may be a better fit as CW is home to The Flash and Arrow, but that means a cut in budget for the series. My guess is that not all the characters will make the transition to the second season; my hunch is that Calista Flockhart is probably too expensive to keep on as a regular, which is too bad. Her Cat Grant was a fun character.

Which, of any, of these cancellations hits you the hardest? Let us know what you’ll miss

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2 thoughts on “Fear the Reaper – TV Cancellations”

I never loved the Muppets reboot. I wanted to but it just didn’t have the same draw as when I was a kid. I feel sad about Grinder because I haven’t seen it yet. This is made me think about two of my favorite shows that were cancelled after the first season: Emily Owens, M.D. (I love a good hospital show and Mamie Gummer is awesome) and Awake (Jason Isaacs is one of my favorite actors). I know how ratings work but it always surprises me when a well-written, entertaining show is cast off for lesser choices.

Personally I think it’s still worth watching The Grinder, even if you know all that you’ll get is one season. I’m going to be so annoyed in a few years when people discover the show after the fact and say “hey – this is great. Why was this cancelled?” (see Freaks and Geeks, Arrested Development, etc.)